Nicholas Smith - Allegiance

Sloan looked down and said something, but X couldn’t hear her over the motor. He tried to remember why his body was covered in blood. The sight of an arrow sticking out of his upper chest brought back a flood of memories from the Purple Pearl.

They came crashing over him like waves. He recalled the ambush and the brutal fight that followed. And then he remembered how it ended, with Rhino dying in his arms after promising to watch over him always.

A platoon of militia soldiers had stormed into the Purple Pearl not long after Rhino took his last breath. The gunshots had also attracted Colonel Forge and a small army of Cazadores.

What happened after that was fuzzy in his mind. He vaguely remembered Sloan, Ton, and Victor carrying him through a back alley, where his memories ended.

“What happened to Mac and Felipe?” X said.

Fear stabbed his heart, questions swarming his mind. Had the militia soldiers engaged the Cazadores? Had he just started the war he was trying so hard to prevent?

He tried to sit up, but Sloan pushed him back to the deck and said something that he couldn’t hear. Ton and Victor both tightened their grip on his legs and arms to keep him down.

“No, move, King,” Victor said. “Please.”

Looking up at the blue sky, X tried to calm his thumping heart. He could hardly see out of one eye, and he was pretty sure he had a broken rib. And, of course, there were the stab wounds and the arrows.

Sloan pulled out her radio and brought it to her mouth. X tried to listen and managed to make out a few things. Something about Captain Mitchells and Discovery .

X sat up and grunted. “Tell me what the hell is going on, damn it.”

Sloan, Ton, and Victor looked down at him with varying expressions of disbelief.

“Samson is in contact with Captain Mitchells,” Sloan said. “That’s all I know.”

“What about Mac and Felipe and the militia?”

Sloan pointed to the back of the boat. X twisted, wincing in pain, and saw the two men sitting in the back, getting patched up by two militia soldiers.

“And Colonel Forge?” X asked. He was hoping the scene of death in the Purple Pearl would look like what it was: a power struggle between Rhino and Vargas. He was also hoping Rhino’s sacrifice would help bury the hatchet between the sky people and the Cazadores, especially now that Colonel Vargas and General Santiago were dead.

Though he had been too thick to realize it until now, it at last dawned on X that Rhino had been trying to do just that—and had paid the ultimate price making it happen.

Sloan brought her radio back up, this time talking to Sergeant Wynn. Her voice trailed off, or maybe X just couldn’t hear her. He grimaced from a fresh wave of pain.

“Wynn has the situation under control,” Sloan finally said. “There’s been no further fighting.”

The news filled X with energy, and he sat up straighter, the lapse in pain allowing him to focus his mind. The boat glided through the open door of the marina under the capitol tower.

A group of people waited on the pier inside.

Dr. Huff was among them. He climbed into the boat, carrying a bag. For a moment, he simply looked at X.

“What the heck happened to you, Xavier?” he finally asked.

“He made a mess, that’s what,” Sloan said.

“I need to get up to the command center and talk to Captain Mitchells,” X said.

“Sir, all due respect, but you need to get to the medical ward, pronto,” Huff said. “You have arrows in your chest and arm!”

X looked down again at his wounds. Bandages covered most of them, but the arrows were still in his flesh.

A memory of Rhino being stabbed over and over flashed across his mind. Gritting his teeth, X grabbed the end of the arrow and broke off all but the first four or five inches protruding from his right arm.

“I’ll be fine,” he growled. “Now, help me up.”

Huff looked at him in awe. “Sir, you need—”

“Take care of Felipe and Mac, and then hide them,” X said. He looked over at Sloan. “Let’s go, Lieutenant.”

Ton and Victor helped X to his feet and off the boat. They followed Sloan to the internal door, where she hesitated.

“Better take the cage,” she said. “No way you can get up those stairs and still be alive at the top.”

X didn’t argue.

Sloan still didn’t move. “King Xavier, I beg you to listen to the doctor,” she said. “You’re hurt really bad and should get—”

“I need to get to the radio in the command center,” he said as firmly as his weakened condition would allow.

Sloan finally nodded at Ton and Victor, and they all set off for the door that led to the outer pier. From there, they took the elevator cage.

The beautiful view of teal water and purple sunset did little to relieve the anguish overwhelming X. He had been hurt worse than this before, but losing Rhino cut as deep as anything he had ever known.

Sloan spoke to Wynn over the radio again—a welcome distraction from the dreadful thoughts plaguing him.

“Sergeant Wynn said Colonel Forge has left the Purple Pearl,” Sloan said. “Our team is cleaning up the bodies now and will have Rhino sent to the capitol rig.”

Suddenly light-headed, X leaned against the cage. She reached out to help him.

“I’m okay,” he lied.

The cage clanked to the top level, and she opened the gate. From there, they took several flights of stairs up to the command center, stopping twice for X to catch his breath. Victor and Ton practically carried him up the last flight.

“Sorry,” Victor said when X cried out in pain.

He was hurt bad, all right, and would need surgery to remove the arrows. But it was nothing he hadn’t experienced before. It just meant more scars and more stories.

This one was a tale he wanted to forget, though. Seeing Rhino beaten and stabbed like a Siren was too much to bear. A tear welled in his eye as Ton and Victor helped him off the top landing.

Sloan opened the door to the room, letting Miles out. The dog rushed over, barking and then brushing against X.

Samson rose from the radio equipment to stare.

“Rads and lightning, man!” said the engineer. “You look like you just fought an army.”

Miles whined and licked X’s hand.

“It’s okay, boy,” X said, giving the dog a feeble scratch behind the ears.

“ Did he fight an army?” Samson asked Sloan.

“Yeah, pretty much,” she replied.

X staggered into the room and waved Ton and Victor off. They stepped back, and he fell against the table. Both men reached out to help, along with Sloan, but X waved them all back.

“I’m fine,” he said.

Even the dog wasn’t buying it, and he let out a low whine. X sat on the chair in front of the radio equipment, and Miles came to sit beside him. X reached out for the receiver, and Samson handed it to him.

“Captain Mitchells, do you copy?” X said.

Static crackled; then a voice came on.

“King Xavier, I copy,” Les said.

“What’s your status?” X asked.

“Sir, I’m not sure what Samson has told you,” said the captain, “but we’re on our way back with thirty-one survivors from the bunker. We’ve sustained some major losses rescuing them.”

X steeled himself and listened to Les rattle off the losses of Cazadores, a militia soldier, and Alexander, plus all the equipment and Star Grazer itself. The captain went on to list the injured, including Edgar and Arlo.

Overall, the mission had been a success, though at a steep cost, especially for the Cazadores. But at least they had two survivors to tell the tale to their comrades when they returned home.

“We retrieved the Sea Wolf with two of General Santiago’s men,” Les said. “The surf had taken them out to sea, which saved them from the skinwalkers.”